


Stormy Skies and the Sea

by scampadversary



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Fluff, M/M, Selkies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 13:37:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2271741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scampadversary/pseuds/scampadversary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marine biology student Tsukishima Kei's internship in Hokkaido doesn't take him to the beach as much as he'd like, or at all, really, so he takes himself. It's there that he hears distressed cries and goes to find their source.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stormy Skies and the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slightly late birthday gift for Erin (tumblr user shuukyo). Happy birthday, have some babs.

Tsukishima watched his feet sink into the sand as he plodded towards the water. No one had informed him until his arrival to Hokkaido that his marine biology internship would keep him far away from the actual sea for the majority of his stay. He didn't necessarily _want_ to be at the beach all day, salt crusting his skin, the uneven crunch of rocks and shells underfoot, sun demanding that he constantly reapply sunscreen.

Except, there were also the animals from the pages of the picture books his older brother had given him when he was young, the solitude that the lab didn't allow, the cries of birds and the whisper of the wind. In short, enough made up for the bothersome parts.  

Today, Tsukishima, straying from the main expanse of sandy beach, climbed close to the jagged rocks that reached towards and spread out over the water. A little bit more and he would be far enough from where others -- mostly tourists -- gathered noisily.

He halted to a stop. A small whimper broke the usual calm clatter of stones rolling underfoot. It wasn't far, just around the next rocky wall. Tsukishima peeked out and saw charcoal flecks and spots on shimmering grey. Light moved across the glossy tail as it swished through the air restlessly. Another quiet noise, another distressed cry pushed him to continue towards it.

This was the kind of thing he'd babbled on about as a kid. _He was going to save all of the cute animals!! And play with them and feed them and_ \-- so many embarrassingly childish fantasies that he wouldn't admit were making a sudden resurgence in the back of his mind. Breathing fast, he fully cleared the large rock.

"What the--?"

"EEEEK."

Tsukishima's shock usually translated to a scowl and knit brow, but all he could manage now was blank gaping. He had been half right when he guessed the animal by its tail. Literally. The sad sounds _had_  comefrom half a seal. The other half, however, was perfectly un-seal-like. The tail faded into a human torso, which had human arms and a human neck and a human head with a human face.

"I- I- I, that is, umm, I- y-you--" the creature stammered, the panic written across his face also catching in his throat. His impressively wide eyes would have been comedic had the situation not been so utterly strange. 

"You," Tsukishima took a moment to compose himself before continuing, "why do you have that thing?" Though not graceful, it was at least to the point. 

"Huh?"

"Eh?" Brown hair shifted as he turned his head up, back, left.

"That thing?" Now he was staring at Tsukishima.

"Ummmm." He looked  _apologetic_ at this point, one hand playing with the cowlick on top of his head, gaze cast to the side.

"THAT TAIL." Tsukishima's outburst made the creature yelp, flushing, the countless freckles on his cheeks now almost buried beneath crimson.

"Why do you have a seal's tail?" He clarified.

"I... I don't know either." And then he was whimpering, making the same sad noises that had drawn Tsukishima there in the first place.

"Everyone has these scales, they're so shiny and pre-pretty colors too, but I'm..." He stared at the ground, lips trembling, tears falling. The last sentence toppled out, slurred, "Theycallmeugly."

Tsukishima was at a loss. For fuck's sake, he had run over ready to help a wounded animal, not comfort a sobbing magical creature that apparently faced the great evils of  _bullying._ Any childlike glee he might have felt at the sight of a merman --  _did he count as a merman?_ \-- was washed away when the floodgates opened. He wasn't equipped for this. 

Fuck, he  _really_ wasn't equipped for this. 

But he couldn't exactly turn around and leave either, so he stood. And stood and stood and stood.  _An abandoned merman. A merman that was bullied? A merman. A bullied, abandoned merman. What?_

As Tsukishima stood and stood and stood, he observed the merman once more. He noticed tears catching in long eyelashes; more freckles, some sprinkled across his shoulders and others, darker, like the flecks on his tail, spotting his stomach; and the slight chubbiness of his tail, how it contrasted with his lanky arms (also freckled). 

He wasn't flashy like the merfolk from the mythology books Tsukishima used to pore over, but there was something charming in the way his sleek tail jiggled and in how he was painted with the colors of stones, wood, earth, sand, and stormy skies.  _Stormy skies and the sea..._

"Like a selkie." 

Tsukishima had muttered it to himself, but his voice must have caught on the wind because the next moment, he heard a large sniffle, and then a sheepish whisper.

"A what?"

"Seals that shed their skin and become humans. From Scottish and Irish myths."

"O-oh."

"Apparently they're bea--," he caught himself and went on, "uh, they show up in a lot of legends about lovers."

Silence.

"So, you're kind of... like one," he clumsily finished, pressing his fingers together and wondering why he'd bother bringing it up anyway, dammit,  _whatever_.

"Selkie.. selkie..." Maybe bringing it up  _had_ been worth the pain since instead of crying, the merman was now repeating  _selkie_ to himself, a smile starting to emerge. 

"Wow that's amazing! That's really cool!" he blurted out, eyes sparkling, tail sweeping through the air. He pumped both of his fists and exclaimed, "Yeah, I'm going to tell everyone that!" 

A look of pure inspiration on his face, he swiveled around and started hopping back towards the water, tail flopping beneath him. Tsukishima was back to his initial gape. What the hell kind of exchange was  _that_?

"Wait!"

Tsukishima's gaze snapped back to the merman and he managed a hurried, "W-what?"

"What's your name?" 

"Tsukishima Kei," he spoke, in wonder at the fact that he was giving his full name to a fairytale creature.

"Tsukishima... Tsuki.. shima... ah!" 

Tsukishima flinched. 

"Tsuki sounds like selkie!"

"Mm, you're right."

"Yeah! Anyway, anyway, thanks, Tsukki!" Tsukishima felt his ears heat up a bit.

"No problem."

"My name's Yamaguchi Tadashi. Come here again, okay?" 

How could Tsukishima say no when such a bright smile was directed towards _him_ of all people? How could he say no to such a sincere invitation? So he mumbled his response.

"I was planning to anyway."


End file.
